Current status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 10 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that local authorities uphold the spirit of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, including by raising awareness and making Scotland a better place for BSL users to live, work, and visit.
Listed authorities play a key role in realising the ambitions of the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015, as they deliver services and information to BSL users where they live.
We fund British Deaf Association Scotland through the Equality and Human Rights Fund to support community engagement and bring lived experience, expertise and support to BSL local plans. On 3rd February 2026, the Scottish Government attended an annual event held by BDA Scotland in Glasgow. This event brought together listed authorities and members of the BSL community to share both their experiences of developing local plans and to provide examples of best practice as we move towards publication of the BSL National Plan progress report in November 2026.
In addition, the Scottish Government funds the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) to create a support network for listed authorities to enable opportunities to share good practice, resources and raise challenges around implementing local BSL plans. The network will encourage partnership working, improve data collection, foster connectivity and enable greater accountability on progress towards implementation of local plans.